Apple generally tends to merely dip its Designed in California toe into the Black Friday blackwaters, usually offering a one-day $100-off promotion on a single product family via online and in-store purchases. But analysts at Barclay Capital and the folks at Apple Insider are projecting bigger things this year, which could include more aggressive one-time prices slashes across multiple families (iPhone potentially included). The evidence seems to be in line: Apple Insider points at Apple's crazy-aggressive (for Apple) back-to-school promotion this year that offered a free iPod touch ($300 value) with a new notebook purchase (over previous years' Nanos), and a general feeling in the air that Black Friday is going to be batshit crazy this year across the board. Also cited is Orange's plan to slash iPhone prices by €50 for Noël in France-but take that with a bit more skepticism, because the international carriers have more lee-way over their localized pricing. So is this just stating the obvious? We shall see what happens. [Apple Insider]